I love how C.S. Lewis chose to end The Chronicles of Narnia. In the final book,"The Last Battle" as Narnia slowly begins to crumble around them, Aslan appears and transports the children to a land more beautiful and full of wonder than Narnia. All the heroes found in The Chronicles are there, including Mr. Tumnus, the fawn and Reepicheep, the mouse. The children realize that this is Aslan’s country and their true home. And this is how Mr. Lewis closes the Chronicles:
“And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
A beautiful way to picture life AFTER life for anyone who knows Jesus Christ personally. As a Christ follower, this quote has special meaning to me. Let me explain: My mom had a fall on Monday, September 25 (which also happened to be the 41st wedding anniversary for Daniel and me), and by Thursday she was, as the hospice nurse explained to me "in active dying". I was so thankful that I was able to say what I wanted to say to her in August. I had been able to have my goodbye with her in person.
So on "that" Thursday, my brother Ken was watching over Mom in her room. Here in Tennessee, my coping with the situation was to choose to leave the house (and my thoughts) and do some "therapy shopping" at Target--mindlessly walking up and down the aisles. It was hard to make any decisions on what to buy. I would put an item in the cart and then take it out. That continued throughout my "retail therapy". Then my phone rang while I was in the Halloween candy aisles. My brother had called to give me one last chance to talk to Mom. So there, in the Halloween candy aisle, I stood behind my cart, trying to audibly say "I love you". I couldn't hear anything in reply, so I continued: "go to Jesus Mom. It's okay. I love you. Just go be with Jesus." My voice cracked loudly and I began crying. I saw a couple of women who were pushing carts go slowly past the opening to the isle where I was. It took a couple of minutes to recover before I continued my mindless shopping, not really caring about what to purchase. That night I put my phone on my nightstand. A few minutes past 2 a.m. I was jolted out of a sound sleep to a call in which the voice on the other end apologized for calling so late. She sadly said that Mom had passed away minutes before.
The next 48 hours were an emotional blur of phone calls and paperwork. As it set in that Mom's days of living with the near-inability to talk or walk in her aged and disease-wracked body were done, I remembered this quote from C. S. Lewis' book. Long ago I found it to be a beautiful depiction of what going from this life to REAL life would be like. And now it was a comforting focal point for me as I navigated through the following couple of weeks leading up to her funeral and committal services.
So I included a part of this passage in the memorial program for her funeral.
Grace is now "beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read; which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before."
Instead of "rest in peace", I think that because Mom is having one joy-filled, Heavenly experience after another, all the while worshipping the One who created her, I will say: "Party hearty, Mom!"
